DATE: Sunday, August 17, 1997               TAG: 9708150229

SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS     PAGE: 05   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Letter 

                                            LENGTH:   62 lines

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - PORTSMOUTH

My partner Fred LaChance and I own The Ship's Store Inc./Ye Olde Antiques at 624 High St. I would like to thank City Council and 2005 Vision Committee for the opening of the new High Street ferry landing.

I have been in business since April 1996 and my store manager keeps a daily count of customers. Before the ferry landing opened on High Street an count of customers on Saturdays averaged between 12 and 18.

In the few weeks the High Street landing has been operational our customer count has increased on Saturdays between 40 to 60 people.

I have no doubt in my mind that this increase is a direct result of the new ferry landing and proves that travelers coming from Norfolk will walk the streets of Portsmouth now that they can see stores, galleries and museums in direct view.

Richard T. Atkison

High Street

Aug. 12, 1997 Let the people speak

Approximately 100 Churchland residents packed Portsmouth City Council chambers Aug. 12 to voice opposition to a proposed rezoning and self-storage facility off West Norfolk Road in Churchland.

Residents were denied the opportunity to speak when council voted to defer the agenda item to allow the developer more time to restructure his case.

City attorney, Timothy Oksman, at first stated the citizens would be allowed to speak, and then reversed himself after the council voted to defer the issue.

This marks the second time citizens of Portsmouth have been denied due process in this rezoning case.

It was uncovered at a previous council meeting that the property had not been posted in accordance with the Portsmouth Zoning Ordinance, and adjacent property owners did not receive notification of the proposed zoning change.

Approximately 600 families in Hunters Point, River Pointe and West Norfolk will be affected by this zoning change, which could set a precedent for further commercial development along West Norfolk Road. Residents near the Siesta Gardens subdivision have similar zoning and tracks of land available for development.

The nine-building self-storage facility will be literally in the back yards of approximately 10 single family homes along West Norfolk Road, and directly across from the Hunters Point and River Pointe subdivisions.

If the facility is erected, residents will face a devaluation of property values, loss of privacy, increase of truck traffic and personal endangerment due to inadequate emergency access.

Residents traversing the West Norfolk Bridge and I64 will soon be a viewing a storage building, rather than the lovely trees that are currently there.

Storage facilities have a high propensity for crime (ranging from grand theft to arson to murder) and have been banned in cities from Los Angeles to Atlanta.

The next hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 9, at 7 p.m. at Portsmouth City Hall.

Nancy Kelly, president

Hunters Point Civic League

Aug. 13, 1997

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